Forum Discussion

alsalc's avatar
alsalc
Just joined
20 hours ago

Free TV offer

So we waited the 55 days for the free tv as part of the volt package…..

Didn’t hear anything so contacted them and it was escalated and we were informed to expect to hear back in 72 hours,

Nope, not heard anything in 72 hours so made yet another call today, we were told the tv’s are out of stock.

Completely unacceptable, we’ve been offered a credit which is LESS than what the tv would cost if we purchased it ourselves. Absolutely appalling customer service! In essence, because we had to wait the 55 days for the tv, we cannot now cancel as we are signed into a 2 year contract, so our right to cancel within the cooling off period was taken away. Had we been informed within that 14 day period that the tv’s were out of stock, we would have cancelled and gone with another provider.

Spent over an hour this morning trying to sort it out and quite literally, it’s like banging your head against the wall. Virgin simply do not care about their customers, they’ve got our money and contract for the next two years when basically we have been sold a contract on an unfulfilled promise under dubious cooling off times.

Appalling.

5 Replies

  • Kath_P's avatar
    Kath_P
    Icon for Forum Team rankForum Team
    18 hours ago

    Hi alsalc, 

    Thanks for taking the time to contact us via the Community. It's lovely having you on board with us in the Forums. ⭐

    We're sorry to hear you're unhappy that the TV's are out of stock. When joining, it does advise that all gifts are subject to stock availability. Whilst we work hard to ensure the gift is provided, on this occasion, the uptake of the offer was a higher. Due to the stock no longer being available, we are offering a credit instead. We wouldn't be able to offer anything else in it's place. 

    Do you know if the team have already processed your credit? We've tried to check this at our end but have been unable to locate your account using your forum credentials. Let us know so we can apply the credit, if this hasn't already been done. 

    Many thanks, 

  • alsalc's avatar
    alsalc
    Just joined
    16 hours ago

    Hi Kath_P

    Thank you for your reply. Here is the email we received from Virgin:

    Subject: You’ve got a gift from Virgin Media

    Congratulations! You’ve bagged an extra treat as a thanks for choosing Virgin Media.

    Your gift will be sent 55 days after your services are set up (if you don’t cancel between now and then).

    We’ll be in touch again once your services are up and running.

    Take care
    The Virgin Media Team

    Nothing in that email that says subject to availability.

    Also, nothing in that email that says by the way, if we run out of stock (which we might) then you can forget your 14 day cooling off period because we said you have to wait 55 days (we even put in ( ) as long as you don’t cancel within 55 days. Taking away our choice to opt out if you can’t deliver what you promised. 

    I don’t think it’s our problem that your uptake was higher than anticipated, your marketing team need to look at that, please don’t blame the consumer. Maybe they would benefit from watching “Pepsi, where’s my jet?”

    And,  where was the communication that you promised? We didn’t hear nada after 55 days, not even a sorry, there is no tv, we had to chase, was given a 72 hour window for you to respond, which you didn’t, and then we had to chase again today - that’s appalling customer service.

    As a final insult, you say “we wouldn’t be able to offer anything else in its place” - well, you truly took away our choice when you removed our 14 day cooling off period as you dangled the gift with the P.S (as long as you don’t cancel between now and then).

    You have our money, a contract we cannot get out of for 2 years…..we have no gift, just a credit that is worth LESS than the promised gift - but I’m so pleased Kath_P that you are happy we’ve joined the forum, I’ll sleep well tonight…and I give myself ⭐️⭐️ for making you happy.

     

     

     

    • Sabrina_B's avatar
      Sabrina_B
      Icon for Forum Team rankForum Team
      3 hours ago

      Thanks for getting back to us alsalc, apologies that you feel that way, the credit that is on offer is of the value £250 bill credit which is more than the value of the TV that was on offer. If you wish to take up the offer of the bill credit on your account please let us know so that we can engage in a private message to process this. 

  • jpeg1's avatar
    jpeg1
    Alessandro Volta
    3 hours ago

    I think you should speak to Citizens Advice about this. You signed up to a contract which includes a 'gift' TV.  If VM have not provided the TV then they have broken the contract and you could walk away. 

  • alsalc's avatar
    alsalc
    Just joined
    2 hours ago

    @Sabrina_b - thanks for your reply, however, as Judge Judy would say…..what a load of baloney!!!!

    The credit of £250 is NOT worth more than the value of the tv on offer, in fact, yesterday, when in a much fruitless conversation with one of YOUR team, they googled how much the tv was and the cheapest one THEY could find was £309. 

    So, the situation still remains the same:

    You have our money.

    We are locked into a 2 year contract because you removed our right to cancel within the 14 day cooling off period with the promise of a tv (currently £309).

    You failed to communicate with us and didn’t deliver on your promised response of 72 hours, meaning we had to use our time to continually chase you only to find……..

    There is no tv.

    The credit offered is LESS than the promised gift as a reward for signing up with VM.

    You’ve broken the contract not us.

    I don’t think it’s unreasonable to be more than a bit miffed that the consumer is being short changed by the conglomerate and we are just expected to suck it up with a casual sorry you feel that way and it’s lovely having you in the forum (see reply from @Kath_p above) - how about acknowledging you’re in the wrong, we’ve been shortchanged and how can we find a way forward that keeps our customer happy.